Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 17 › Conversation 017-032

Nixon phone call with Rogers on Jimmy Hoffa and Press relations

Friday, December 24, 1971 · 5:20 PM–5:22 PM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Rogers, William P.Conversation017-032 on Tape 17 (tape position 01:34:02–01:36:09)StartFriday, December 24, 1971 at 5:20 PMEndFriday, December 24, 1971 at 5:22 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 017-032 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Secretary of State William P. Rogers exchanged holiday greetings and coordinated travel plans for an upcoming trip to Florida. The two discussed the positive press coverage surrounding Rogers's recent press conference, as reported by Charles Colson. Additionally, Nixon justified the release of Jimmy Hoffa as a humanitarian necessity, noting that the administration placed conditions on the release to restrict Hoffa's involvement in labor activities until 1983.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Names and numbers are often wrong; speakers are not identified. Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Hello?
Secretary Rogers, returning your call.
Hello, Mr. President.
Hello, Mr. President.
You got a shower, huh?
Well, I just called to wish you a Merry Christmas and to tell you that I was delighted that you were going down the plane with us Sunday night, huh?
Yeah, Sunday night.
Yeah, Sunday night.
That's what I meant.
I'm going to wait.
I'm going at 8 o'clock.
I wanted to wait and see the football game.
I'm glad.
And, of course, Patterson's going, but...
you bring a towel with you.
There'll be plenty of room.
Yeah, well, that's fine.
I thought at the end, because we're going to be there.
Well, you might have thought that an extra day in that way.
Sure, that's fine.
Good, and I thought you were excellent in your press conference.
I didn't see it, but Colson gave me a report.
He talked to me extremely well.
Got a good play on it.
Excellent play.
Yeah, you know, when you think about it, we got quite a record.
I summarized the record, and it's a firm record when you think about it.
God darn right.
And I tell you, everybody in the place was friendly.
I didn't have a hostile person.
I mean, you had a big group.
Yeah.
It was the right time to have it, too.
It was only a coincidence.
We hadn't thought of it, you know.
The hopper release occurred the same day, or it would have been the lead, but that's all right.
It was good that we had another story with Hoffa.
Yeah, I think that too.
No, I think it worked out fine.
Incidentally, the Hoffa thing, we had to do with a reason that I wanted to get it over with.
Now, the patrol bar was bound to let him out in June, and I didn't want him to come back soon.
So, yeah.
Well, I think it was a good thing.
And the poor guy, he looked like hell, they told me.
And the wife is, you know...
it desperately.
Well, after a man that served almost five years, the rest of it is just cool and inhuman punishment.
It really is.
You've got degradation.
And also, another thing we did, we put a condition on it that he could not participate in any labor activities until 1983.
Well, now, what the heck?
I don't think anybody wants more except the New York Times.
Well, I hope you have a great Christmas.
I'm going to watch football.
Okay, Mr. President.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On December 24, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers talked on the telephone from 5:20 pm to 5:22 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 017-032 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 17-32

Date: December 24, 1971
Time: 5:20 pm - 5:22 pm

Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with William P. Rogers.

     Rogers's location

     Christmas wishes

     The President's schedule
          -Florida
                -Timing
                -Adele (Langston) Rogers
                -Thelma C. (“Pat”) Nixon

     Rogers's press conference
         -Charles W. Colson report
         -Media play
                -Positive

     James R. (“Jimmy”) Hoffa's release
          -Timing
                -Unknown person
          -Josephine (Poszywak) Hoffa
                -Health
          -Conditions on Hoffa’s release
                -New York Times

     Football

Also recorded on December 24, 1971

  • 017-029 5:09 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and W. Clement Stone talked on the telephone from 5:09 pm to 5:10 pm.
  • 017-030 5:10 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:10 pm and 5:18 pm.
  • 017-031 5:18 PM · 51 sec — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Ralph H. Cake talked on the telephone from 5:18 pm to 5:19 pm.
  • 017-033 5:22 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Stewart J. O. Alsop talked on the telephone from 5:22 pm to 5:24 pm.
  • 017-034 5:25 PM · 4 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Peter M. Flanigan talked on the telephone from 5:25 pm to 5:28 pm.
  • 017-035 5:29 PM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and Elliot L. Richardson talked on the telephone from 5:29 pm to 5:32 pm.
  • 017-036 5:32 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 5:32 pm.
  • 017-037 5:33 PM · 6 min — President Richard M. Nixon, White House operator, and John N. Mitchell talked on the telephone from 5:33 pm to 5:39 pm.

All 54 conversations from December 24, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 017-032, December 24, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/017-032 (accessed October 12, 2026).